What the county actually requires, who to call, and where people get caught out.
Most urbanized county of the five (Tucson metro) with an active permitting apparatus and extra regulatory layers on top of building code — Native Plant Preservation Ordinance, Buffer Overlay Zones, hillside rules, and Regional Flood Control District floodplain review that can capture even sub-200-sq-ft sheds in erosion/high-hazard areas — and no owner-builder opt-out of any kind.
Call the office above and describe your actual build. Two things catch dome builders out in every Arizona county, whatever the permit light says: septic is regulated by the state regardless of what the county does about buildings, and no permit means no certificate of occupancy — which usually means no conventional mortgage and no standard homeowner's insurance, and a cash-buyers-only sale later.
Snow load is the other one. At elevation in Arizona it is a real engineering number, not a formality — the calculator works it out for your site.
Work out your dome's struts, hubs and cost →
This is a plain-English summary of published county rules, gathered for Tom & Courtney's Desert Domes — it is not legal advice, and codes change. The county office above is the authority; confirm with them before you buy materials.